NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO SPECIFIC SPOILERS IN THE INITIAL PART OF THIS NOTE THOUGH SOME IMPORTANT FUTURE STUFF THAT I THINK IS WORTH MENTIONING SO WE CAN PREPARE FOR IT WILL BE OUTLINED. IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ANY KIND OF SPOILERS REGARDING SEASON 8 AND/OR EQUESTRIA GIRLS. DO NOT CLICK AFTER THE BREAK.

Hey everyone, this weekend we surely got a big shake up in news recently with a huge leak that contains plans for the future of MLP from as early as next year for Season 8 to as late as 2020-2021. Now I won’t mention any specifics right out in public view. I’ll keep some thoughts on what I know for after the break. So if you don’t mind delving into what was revealed and are curious of what my impressions are on things. Then feel free to check after the break. Otherwise, ignore it if you’re in no mood for any spoilers right now.

There are however a few things we now know from this leak that I think is especially important to know. I don’t count it as a spoiler because this is the kind of thing that’s always in the back of our minds especially with a show that’s gone on for this long so we can prepare for it : The question of when will it end, and furthermore… what will come after?

According to plans laid out in the leak. Season 9 will be the final season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

And that’s not all, it might very well be the end of Generation 4 as a whole. As concept art of what looks to be the beginnings of a Generation 5 coming in 2020-2021 were revealed as well.

So as it stands, we have at least 2-3 years left of the current show/generation we’ve come to enjoy. With an uncertain future ahead as from what we can gather, already looks to have some odd changes that will certainly at least take many people some time getting used to for those most familiar with G4 (Specifics on why that is will be mentioned below the break)

This is absolutely the biggest takeaway that I think needs to be spread amongst the fandom. So we can properly prepare for the show’s ending. It’ll be sad when the final episode has aired. But I think by then in our hearts we’ll know it had a good run.  9 Seasons, a feature-length movie, and a decently successful spin-off series is going to be a tough act to follow even if G5′s show turns out to be good. The only regret I’d say is I wish the MLP movie we got came sooner in this generation’s lifetime so there could of been a chance at a 2nd movie that could of improved on some things. Or at the very least have a 2nd movie be G4′s true finale to really go out with a bang. Instead, the next movie will serve as the pilot for G5 which will come with some amount of uncertainty.

As for how this effects Genie Twilight related matters. I fully intend to ride it out to the final season and final episode response. And definitely last at least a little after the show has officially ended. I just can’t be 100% sure if I’ll be still going by the time Generation 5 begins. With the end of G4 incoming, I do have to start thinking on ending this blog eventually too. This won’t be until at least 2-3 years from now, alot can change in that time. But nothing lasts forever. I’m full of uncertainty myself about it. I’m not so sure what I’ll move on to after I’m finished. But at least I have a fair bit of time to figure that out.

Now, I’ll leave off to after the break that will contain impressions of some of what I know from the leak. So if you’re avoiding spoilers this is where you can feel free to leave off here. If you want to talk about any of what I mentioned, however. Feel free to drop off some asks over on my mod blog

LAST WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 8, EQUESTRIA GIRLS, AND EVEN A BIT OF GENERATION 5 WILL BE MENTIONED

(BIG SPACE TO MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE HARDLY ANYONE ACCIDENTALLY READS THESE)

SEASON 8

- Spike will grow Dragon Wings: I ACTUALLY CALLED THIS BACK IN SEASON 4! (Check at about the 4th frame) I personally think this is cool. I’ve always imagined a fully grown alicorn Twilight riding Spike as a giant flying dragon places

- Twilight starts a friendship school of different species: I think this is a pretty neat idea. I’ll be interested to see where that goes

EQUESTRIA GIRLS

- Sci-Twi will visit Equestria: Oh I am definitely hyped for this, I did kinda want to see a vice-versa of the situation of Twilight in the first EQG movie learning to be human done with Sci-Twi. Glad it will happen. Sci-Twi will even be a unicorn, which is the right call. Even if that will be a little strange since she gets wings when she ponies ups, but in all of making sense she should just be a regular unicorn.  It’d be some strange logic that because one Twilight ascended, her alternate self does too. The only other explanation would be the magic that transformed her into Midnight Sparkle also ascended her. But then Sunset would also have to be an Alicorn after the angel form she got. And that wasn’t exactly the case when she returned to Equestria in the special where she met Starlight

GENERATION 5

- Character design/changes: Now there isn’t much of G5 revealed but just from the character design we can see how this could differ from what we’re familiar with from G4. It looks like the Mane 6 will be back as the concept art showed 4 of the 6. Rarity seems to have been kept in tact. Applejack… certainly has been spruced up quite a bit. And probably not in a way that G4 Applejack would approve of. However the strangest changes seem to be outright race swaps. G5 Fluttershy will be a unicorn. I suppose they wanted a Fluttershy for every main type. Fluttershy’s G1 counterpart was Posey, who was an earth pony. G5 Twilight will go from Unicorn-turned-Alicorn to an earth pony. Also for some reason her eyes are light blue instead of what they usually are. Of the colored concept art we have, Fluttershy and AJ have their previous eye colors but Twilight doesn’t. It’s making me think like if they are merging Twilight and Pinkie in G5. I doubt it as I think Pinkie is probably one of the more marketable characters. But this change might be even more jarring then Applejack’s new design in transition from G4 to G5. It’s also making me think Twilight may not exactly be the MAIN main character in G5. She’ll definitely still be an important character, but probably not the one most focused on. Of course this is all speculation on one concept art pic. And since G5 is still in the conceptual stage alot can change but this will be something that could worry fans jumping from G4 to G5. Feel free to judge for yourself though.

- CGI Animated: I’m a bit sad about this admittedly. It’s not that I hate 3D animation it’s just there’s so much over exposure and would like some degree of 2D animation still around. I just hope that it will be good looking 3D animation. Part of the appeal of FiM was the flash animation we got had appealing enough design and movement that even got better with each season. And of course there was the gorgeousness that was the MLP Movie’s animation. 3D Movies can look good, but I think there’s a lot more cases of it being rather jarring then you get with 2D Animation. We’ll have to see how it’s all executed later. But definitely put this on the list of reasons G4 fans might be uncertain about G5

That’s all I have for now. Overall excited to see what’s coming up in Season 8 but quite uncertain when it comes to many things about G5. This is still a little ways from now, and some things could certainly be subject to change. But given this concerns the end of a show that sparked the massive fandom it did, it’s kind of important to get the subject of how it’ll all end and what will come in place of it sooner rather then later. I’d rather know now then expecting a Season 10 when Season 9 is in progress and caught by surprise when we get the news that it ends soon.